


i dreamed a dance (with you)

by s-sokka (poesidone)



Series: Performing Arts Verse [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Pianist, Ballet, Co-workers, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, alcohol mention, azula is fed up with their dancing around each other, azula is in therapy in this fic bc i said so, get it? dancing?, giving hama the happiness she deserves, sorry in advance, that last tag is just for chapter 6, that tag makes me think of that song from king and i, this is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poesidone/pseuds/s-sokka
Summary: Ty Lee had never been shy in her life. Ever. But with this pianist—Mai, she had made a point to learn the girl’s name within the first week of her starting at the company—Ty Lee somehow lost her ability to form coherent sentences. Which was fine, she supposed, considering that Mai didn’t talk much (if at all) either.Ty Lee thought that maybe her New Year’s resolution should be to try and talk to Mai and hold an actual conversation with her. Or at least a conversation that was longer than 30 seconds.
Relationships: Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Performing Arts Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939681
Comments: 89
Kudos: 115





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song of the same name from Next to Normal, because, unfortunately, I am, and always will be, a theatre kid.
> 
> Ok, I am still in the process of figuring out how to add links here so you can see the beautiful artwork that Alex (@seahoney on tumblr)
> 
> Also, thank you to Chadley (@idiotsokka on tumblr) for beta reading this for me!! Love you, buddy!
> 
> also, check the end notes for ballet terminology if you are confused!

Ty Lee was sprawled on the floor of her dressing room, still in full costume, hair, makeup. It was really a testament to the hair department that her wig hadn’t even slipped a millimeter when she had flopped down onto the ground. So, kudos to them.

Ty Lee considered the possibility of not getting up. She was bone tired, all of the exhaustion of the past few weeks finally catching up to her immediately after the run had ended. She sighed, knowing that the sooner she got up the sooner she could go to bed. She groaned as she lifted her upper body up off of the floor, every muscle in her body ached, but it wasn’t like that was a new thing for Ty Lee. She had started ballet classes at age three, her discomfort was due more to the tiredness than anything else.

As she rose to her feet, Ty Lee noticed that she had somehow managed to climb up the stairs with her pointe shoes still firmly secured onto her feet.

Huh. That was a new one. She bent over and swiftly untied her ribbons and slipped out of her, now dead, pointe shoes. She was not the kind of dancer who went through three pairs of shoes per show, but she knew plenty of girls who were. Like Azula, who was in the dressing room next to Ty Lee’s, and was probably already changed out of her costume and wig and was probably going to be impatiently waiting for Ty Lee to exit her own dressing room in a matter of minutes.

That thought quickly set Ty Lee into motion getting changed; she did not want to deal with a cranky Azula, tired Azula was already a lot to handle as it was, Ty Lee knew that Azula was even more exhausted than Ty Lee herself was.

They had just finished their final performance of  _ The Nutcracker _ for the season. Ty Lee loved dancing  _ Nutcracker _ . This was her second season as one of the many girls who were dancing Clara this year. It was Azula’s third season as the Sugarplum Fairy, and though she would never confess to it, Ty Lee knew Azula well enough by now to know how proud she was of herself. 

Ty Lee reflected in her relationship with Azula as she started to unlace her dress. When the two of them had met as new members of the  _ corps de ballet _ (which was a fancy French way of saying ensemble) 5 years ago, Azula had been cold to everyone, clearly trying to keep her distance from others. But, of course, that only made Ty Lee want to be her friend even more, it was obvious to her that Azula needed a friend and Ty Lee was determined to become that friend.

It had taken a full season of being in the  _ corps _ together, but eventually Ty Lee finally managed to win Azula over with a well timed joke about the girl standing in front of them making a misstep in the choreography. She had whispered a silent apology to the girl in her head. She knew it was mean to make jokes at others expense, but once Ty Lee had set her sights on the goal of making Azula like her it was nearly impossible for her to abandon the idea.

Ty Lee was not a mean person at all; she would go so far as to say she was nice, actually. So nice, sometimes, that she found people often tried to take advantage of her. But kindness is not equivalent to foolishness, and Ty Lee was no fool. She wielded her kindness and friendliness as a tool to help others, but also knew how to use it to get what she wanted. She wasn't immune to moments of being mean every now and again.

Ty Lee had always enjoyed working on The Nutcracker, even before she was Clara, back when she was a snowflake. Rehearsals were Ty Lee’s favorite part of the process for every ballet she was in. This, of course, had nothing to do with the mysteriously silent pianist who accompanied their rehearsals. Ty Lee was glad she had her dressing room to herself, because she was certain she was blushing as she carefully removed the pins securing her wig to her own hair. 

Ty Lee had never been shy in her life. Ever. But with this pianist—Mai, she had made a point to learn the girl’s name within the first week of her starting at the company—Ty Lee somehow lost her ability to form coherent sentences. Which was fine, she supposed, considering that Mai didn’t talk much (if at all) either.

Ty Lee sighed, finally lifting her wig off of her head and placing it gently on the wig stand on her counter. She wished she could just talk to Mai, Azula did it all the time! In fact, Mai had apparently learned about the job opening for a rehearsal pianist from Azula’s brother, Zuko, who Mai had gone to college with. 

She knew all of this through Azula, of course. Ty Lee thought that maybe her New Year’s resolution should be to try and talk to Mai and hold an actual conversation with her. Or at least a conversation that was longer than 30 seconds.

As she was finishing pulling on her comfiest pair of sweatpants (also her favorite pair, they were pale pink, soft, and had pockets!), she heard a knock on her door.

“Just a sec, Azula! I promise I’m almost done!” Ty Lee rose her voice to be heard through the thick dressing room door as she pulled her purple hoodie over her head.

“Not Azula, actually. Although, she is standing out here and she doesn’t look too pleased to be kept waiting,” came the voice of an older woman. Ty Lee smiled as she processed who the voice belonged to, the artistic director of the Ba Sing Se Ballet, Hama. 

Hama had a reputation in the ballet world for being strict and unforgiving, but Ty Lee still had no idea how she had acquired such a bad rap. Sure, she could be strict at times, but that was only because she wanted to push her dancers to learn and grow and be the best they could possibly be. Ty Lee figured that the people who said nasty things about Hama were just people who had never been on the receiving end of a little bit of tough love before.

It wasn’t as though Hama was unreasonable, she knew where to draw the line and she knew what the limits of her dancers were. When she saw someone struggling with something, she helped them. She was strict, yeah, but she loved every dancer in the company. She had been a dancer herself, after all. And a famous one, at that! Every dancer worth their pointe shoes knew the story of Hama’s wildly successful career, as well as the injury that ended it tragically early.

Ty Lee startled out of her thoughts as she realized that she was still standing in the middle of the dressing room without any shoes on.

“Sorry! I’ll be right out!” she called as she slipped into her Adidas sneakers and hoisted her dance bag over her left shoulder. Her right one was acting up again, the remnants of an old injury that still flared up occasionally. She made a mental note to drop into the building to visit physio, even though she wasn’t called to work tomorrow.

She pushed open the door and caught the tail end of Hama and Azula’s conversation.

“And I get to decide what I want to do for it?” Azula was asking; to anyone else she would have sounded bored and disinterested, but Ty Lee could tell she was masking her excitement at whatever this conversation was about.

“Absolutely, you have free reign, as long as you don’t try to perform an entire ballet by yourself—and I wouldn’t put it past you.” Hama smiled knowingly. Ty Lee wasn’t sure what they were discussing, but she also would not put it past Azula to attempt to perform an entire ballet by herself.

“Why exactly do we need to stop Azula from dancing an entire ballet alone this time?” Ty Lee stepped closer to the two women to join their conversation.

“Because she’s going to be dancing in the benefit concert at the end of the season, in April. And so are you, that’s what I came up here to talk to you both about. Well,” she corrected herself, “That, and to congratulate the two of you on a fantastic performance tonight and a fantastic run these past few weeks. I don’t think I need to tell you how proud I am of both of you.” She looked between the two of them.

“No, you’re right, you don’t need to tell us. I’m too tired right now to deal with emotions.” Azula snapped, then, looking ashamed, “I’m sorry, that was unkind.”

“That’s perfectly okay, Azula, I know how hard you’ve been working, you deserve to get some rest.” She looked at Ty Lee pointedly, “Both of you do. Why don’t the two of you just come in tomorrow at noon and we can discuss more information about the concert then?”

Ty Lee let out a breath that she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “That would be great, Hama. Thank you!”

“Of course, my dear.” Her eyes caught on Ty Lee’s dance bag hanging off of her left shoulder and her expression changed to one of thoughtful concern. “Your shoulder causing problems again?”

“Nothing too bad, I was planning on stopping by physio tomorrow to have them work on it a bit.”

Hama nodded. “Good. Alright, ladies! Go home, eat, drink lots of water, and go to bed. I’ll see you at noon tomorrow.”

She waved to the two dancers as she strode towards the door at the end of the hallway and disappeared into the stairwell.

Azula turned to Ty Lee with a not uncharacteristic mischievous grin on her face.

“What would you say to Taco Bell?”

Ty Lee mirrored Azula’s grin, “I would say yes.”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment before breaking into laughter. There wasn’t anything particularly funny about their exchange, but exhaustion did always make everything funnier.

Still laughing, Ty Lee felt calmer than she had in a while. The rush that came with a successful performance, the satisfying tiredness that came from working hard for something you loved, and the late night exhaustion induced hysteria shared with a good friend made Ty Lee’s heart feel warm.

_ It’s moments like these that make the hard work worth it,  _ she thought.  _ This is why we do it. _

And then she and Azula exited out of the hall, on their way to their well-deserved Taco Bell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> corps de ballet - ensemble at a ballet company  
> principal - a lead dancer at a ballet company  
> physio - the company's resident physical therapist
> 
> Just wanna warn y'all that I am about to start my senior year of college and I may become too busy to update this regularly. I will try my best, but I make no promises.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what y'all think because I crave validation and if no one says anything then there's a good chance that I'm gonna, like, not want to write this anymore lol


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Details about the benefit concert and a little glance into Ty Lee and Azula's friendship!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone who left a comment on the first chapter!! y'all are very sweet and i appreciate your words!! once again, shout out to Chadley (@idiotsokka on tumblr) for beta reading!! love you lots!!
> 
> check the end notes for ballet term definitions!! Enjoy!!

Ty Lee wasn’t used to having this much free time. Sure, it was really only a couple of hours, but it still felt wrong to not be going to class this morning or rehearsal in the afternoon. Most of the time, she had a full schedule for the entire spring, the season didn’t just end after The Nutcracker closed. But this season, for some reason, she wasn’t cast in any of the ballets following The Nutcracker. She wasn’t the only one either, probably about half of the principals in the company, including Azula, were left with the rest of the season open.

Ty Lee had a feeling that she was about to find out why.

She wasn’t here to dance (or at least she didn’t think she was here to dance?), but she still needed to stop by physio to work on her shoulder, so she wore a leo and tights anyway. And pants and a quarter zip over top, obviously, she wasn’t gonna walk through the streets in just her ballet clothes.

She and Azula had arrived a few minutes early to their meeting with Hama and were standing in the hallway outside her office. They weren’t kept waiting for long, as Hama came striding down the hall. That was one of the things that Ty Lee loved about Hama, she never walked anywhere, she either strode, sashayed, or stomped. You never wanted to see the latter heading in your direction, that only meant bad news for you.

Hama smiled warmly at her and Azula as she removed the lanyard with the keys to her office from around her neck. Ty Lee had always wanted to ask where she had gotten the lanyard; it was a soft pink color and it was covered in silhouettes of ballerinas in a slightly darker pink than the background color. She had never seen Hama without it, Ty Lee wondered if she ever set it down.

“It’s so good to see you ladies! I hope you got some sleep last night?” she turned her head briefly to give them a look as she unlocked the door and swung it open.

“Yes! It was a refreshing change of pace!” Ty Lee followed Hama and Azula into the room as Hama went to open the curtains. It was a bright day out, so there was no need to turn on the lights. Ty Lee knew that Hama tried to avoid using overhead lights when the sun was out and shining. It was a little thing to notice, but Ty Lee liked the way it made the room feel calm.

Ty Lee loved Hama’s office, it was ridiculously comfortable. The wall at the far end of the room, behind Hama’s desk, was lined with windows that stretched all the way up to the ceiling and had a window seat that Hama had covered with cushions and blankets. The windows were draped with billowy lavender fabric. On the two walls on either side, there were bookcases that were packed to the brim with what looked like every single dance book ever written. The wall with the door was covered with framed photos and newspaper clippings from not only Hama’s career as the company’s leading artistic director, but also many from her time as a ballerina.

Ty Lee was pulled out of her thoughts by Hama’s voice.

“I’m glad to hear it, you two have both been working your butts off for this entire season, you deserve to get as many good nights of sleep as you can.” Hama settled into the large cushy chair that was situated behind her desk; Azula and Ty Lee followed suit, taking their seats in the slightly smaller, less cushy chairs sitting opposite Hama’s.

“Let’s get down to business, shall we?” Hama smiled at the two of them. “So, like I was telling Azula last night, the reason the two of you are not scheduled for any performances for the rest of the season is because we have decided to have you each perform a piece in the benefit concert the company is doing to close out the season in April. We have some dancers assigned to perform group pieces or  _ pas de deuxs _ , but we wanted you both to have solo variations, if that’s ok with you?” She looked at them expectantly.

“I’ve already decided what I want to do.” Azula said, with the same air of authority that she always seemed to speak with. “I’m dancing Giselle’s Act 1 variation.”

Hama nodded, “I figured you would say that.” That made sense to Ty Lee, too; Azula hadn’t played Giselle yet, but it was only a matter of time. One of the most famous roles for a female ballerina of all time, Ty Lee knew that it was Azula’s dream role. Given the chance to dance any variation at all, it made perfect sense that this would be the one that Azula chose. It wasn’t the most technically challenging piece Azula could have chosen, but it required lightness and grace, something which Azula pulled off surprisingly well.

“We will, of course, make sure you have the musicians and costume pieces that you need for the performance.” Hama turned to look at Ty Lee, “Do you have any ideas of what piece you might like to do, my dear?”

Ty Lee considered for a moment, she had already played her dream role--Kitri in Don Quixote--with the Ba Sing Se Ballet in her very first season as a principal dancer. She didn’t need to fulfill any wishes through this concert.

Azula was watching her puzzle things out in her mind and no doubt knew exactly what she was thinking about. She proved Ty Lee right when she asked “Does it have to be an existing variation? Maybe you could choreograph something of your own.”

“Oh, that would be fantastic! An original work would be perfect for this event!” Hama looked at Ty Lee once again. “That is, if that’s something you would be interested in working on?”

Ty Lee hesitated, “I’ve never choreographed my own piece before, how long did you say we have to work on this?”

“Well, it’s at the end of April, so about five months.” Hama’s face lit up, “You could work with original music, too! You know Mai, one of the rehearsal pianists? She has mentioned to me that she enjoys composing her own pieces, perhaps the two of you could work together on creating something for the show?”

Ty Lee felt herself start to blush just hearing Mai’s name being mentioned, she had to fight very hard to will the heat in her cheeks away. “I-uh… are you…? Would she--?”

Azula cut in with a conspiratorial grin on her face, “Oh, that would be perfect, wouldn’t it Ty Lee? You’re always saying how cool you think Mai seems! This is the perfect chance to become friends!”

Ty Lee had to fight every instinct in her to not turn to glare at Azula. Why would she say that? That was supposed to be a secret between the two of them! Their boss certainly didn’t need to know that. Not to mention that working with Mai on a five-month long project would very likely kill Ty Lee.

“Oh, is that true, Ty Lee? This works out wonderfully, then!” Hama smiled and Ty Lee did her best to smile back convincingly.

“Sounds great!” She said, only sounding the teeniest bit fake, which she was impressed by.

Perhaps she wasn’t quite convincing enough, because Hama’s eyes narrowed at her slightly. “Are you sure you’re comfortable with that, Ty Lee? You can say no, I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

Ty Lee nodded, “No! There’s no issue! Azula was right, I guess I have been saying that for a while now. I would definitely be interested in working on creating a new piece with Mai, if that’s something that she would also be interested in.”

“Oh, I’m sure she would! You should stop by the Lower Ring studio on your way out of physio later, she should be finishing up with rehearsal around 1 today.” Hama put a hand on Ty Lee’s shoulder and gave her a look that Ty Lee didn’t want to try to interpret right now.

“Thanks! I’ll make sure to catch her before leaving!” Ty Lee said, as cheerily as she could manage, rising from her seat as Hama stood from hers.

“Great, I look forward to seeing what the two of you come up with! I’ll try to check in every now and then when I can.” Hama said with an air of finality that told Ty Lee and Azula that this meeting had reached its close.

“Of course, thank you for giving us this opportunity.” Ty Lee was genuinely grateful, if she survived this it would probably be a really cool and fun experience! But the chances of her survival were probably very low if she was really going to be working closely with Mai.

She trailed after Azula into the hallway as Hama followed them both to the door.

“Of course, my dear. You two will make this concert something truly special to watch.”

Azula preened under the praise.

“We won’t let you down, Hama.” Azula said, sounding genuine despite her confident smirk.

“I know you won’t, I have great faith in both of you.” Hama rolled her eyes fondly. It was an eye roll that was full of love. “Have a wonderful afternoon off, ladies.”

Ty Lee smiled brightly until the second Hama shut her office door. She felt her long braid whip around her face as she turned sharply to glare at Azula, who had already started walking down the brightly lit hall.

Ty Lee stomped after her, “Really, Azula?” She tried to keep her voice at a reasonable level, but fell a little short, if the turned heads were anything to go off of.

“What’s the matter, Ty Lee? Something wrong?” Azula looked at her with obviously false innocence.

“If I die of embarrassment at any point in this process it is  _ your _ fault!”

“Don’t worry, if you do end up dying I’m sure Mai would be willing to play at your funeral. I’ll even dance a sad variation in front of your casket in tribute.”

“ _ Azula! _ ”

“Sorry, Ty Lee,” Azula smirked as they reach the building’s main exit, “I have to get to my therapy appointment, you’ll just have to let me know how your chat with Mai goes later this evening.” And she pushed through the doors and was gone into the brisk winter air, leaving Ty Lee in her wake, standing open-mouthed. She shouldn’t have been surprised by Azula’s behavior, she knew her better than that by now, but somehow moments like this still always caught her off guard.

Ty Lee sighed deeply and dropped her shoulders, which had risen with tension over the past 10 minutes. She winced as she rolled her right shoulder back to release some of the pain that had started building in it.

She sighed again as she turned back toward the main hallway and the corps dancers that glanced away quickly as they noticed Ty Lee look their way. This barely phased Ty Lee, since befriending Azula she had become used to drawing both attention and ire from other dancers. Azula was never one to shy away from making a scene, and Ty Lee had never been one to shy away from attention. They made a good duo in that sense.

She didn’t have time to bask in their attention right now, though. Like Azula, Ty Lee also had an appointment to get to. She shifted her sweatshirt on her shoulders and made her way down the hall to physio.

Well, at least she would have some time to think of what to say to Mai before actually going to see her. Not much time, only about 45 minutes. But, still. Ty Lee would take what she could get.

This was a disaster waiting to happen, Ty Lee knew, but there was a part of her that was excited to have a reason to talk to the other woman.

  
Maybe this  _ would _ be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pas de deuxs: a duet in ballet. usually between a man and a woman.  
> variations: solo dance pieces
> 
> I hope you guys liked this chapter and i promise Mai and Ty Lee will actually interact in the next chapter!! Be on the look out for that soon-ish, I want to try to keep a regular update schedule, but that doesn't seem likely lol
> 
> feel free to let me know what you think of this chapter, i'm @s-sokka on tumblr!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee asks Mai for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, folks!! I promised y'all an interaction between Ty Lee and Mai and it's here!! They're talking!! Interaction!!
> 
> Thank you to Chadley (@idiotsokka on tumblr) and Gabe (@shortkingzuko on tumblr) for beta reading this chapter and being so sweet, i love you both!!
> 
> Also, as usual, check out Alex's art for this AU!!! (@seahoney on tumblr)
> 
> I promise someday I will figure out how to add links to author notes, I promise!!

Ty Lee really enjoyed being sprawled out on the floor, it was definitely one of her favorite activities. 

At the moment, she was currently sprawled on the floor with her head propped on her dance bag outside the Lower Ring studio on the first floor, it was the largest of the studios in the Ba Sing Se Ballet Theater’s rehearsal building. It was usually used for _corps_ rehearsals or full company rehearsals. Right now, the company was starting _corps_ rehearsals for _La Sylphide_ , a ballet that neither she nor Azula would have been cast in anyway, even if they hadn’t been picked to work on this new project.

Ty Lee could hear the piano swelling in a grand sequence of notes before calming to a gentle string of quick, delicate ones. Ty Lee knew the ballet well enough to know that they must be working on the "Arrival of the Guests" scene, which involved the male and female dancers of the _corps de ballet_. She had never been in the ballet herself, but every ballerina knew _La Sylphide_.

The song was obviously not meant to be played on piano alone, but Ty Lee wouldn’t have minded watching a ballet with only Mai accompanying the dancers. Ty Lee had heard plenty of pianists in her day, but none so good as Mai was. Mai had the quickest, nimblest, and most graceful hands that Ty Lee had ever seen, it was no wonder she was so incredible as a pianist.

She went through her script of what she was going to say to Mai when her rehearsal ended one more time.

_ Hi, Mai! I just spoke to Hama this afternoon about the upcoming benefit concert, and she told me I should come speak to you about potentially working together to create a new piece to choreograph for the performance in April. I was wondering if you would be available and interested in working on something like that with me? _

That sounded normal, right?

Ty Lee groaned and scrubbed her hand over her face, this was going to be a disaster, but she owed it to herself and Hama to at least try.

Ty Lee looked up as she heard the director call for Mai to pause. She felt her stomach start to flip when she heard him announce that the rehearsal had reached its close. It was now or never.

Ty Lee climbed to her feet and waited another few minutes until the door opened and small groups of dancers began to exit together, chatting and laughing amongst themselves, occasionally glancing at Ty Lee as they passed her. Normally, this would please Ty Lee, but right now she was a big ball of nerves and was desperately trying not to lose her cool. Not that she had ever managed to keep her cool around Mai before, anyway, but there was a first time for everything and Ty Lee was hoping that time would be today.

As the last couple of dancers exited the studio, Ty Lee toed out of her shoes next to the entrance and stepped into the large space. All of the studios in the building had had high ceilings with skylights in the center. The walls that weren’t panelled with mirrors were a soft, warm green and all the lights in the room were warm and bright. It wasn’t a studio that she spent a lot of time in these days, but she had many fond memories from this space. 

She waved at the production staff who had looked her way when she had entered. They were standing in the front of the studio around a table stacked with papers and open binders. Ty Lee took a moment to wonder at what they were discussing before forcing herself to look over in Mai’s direction.

The other woman was packing up her music into her maroon messenger bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She was wearing a deep red turtleneck under a black pinstriped button down with the sleeves pushed up to just below her elbows. Both layers were tucked into her high waisted black slacks, which were being held up securely around her waist with a thick red belt. She was wearing Dr Martens, which she probably knew she wasn’t supposed to wear in the studio, but Ty Lee couldn’t even bring herself to feel frustrated about it. Her long black hair was in her usual half-up, half-down style, with two buns on either side of her head.

She looked flawless, as per usual, and Ty Lee stumbled in her tracks just a little bit on her way over to the grand piano in the corner of the room.

Mai looked up as Ty Lee approached and Ty Lee had to stop herself from running away the second their eyes met.

Ty Lee felt her mouth go dry and tried to remember what she had even come here for in the first place.

“Hi!” Ty Lee blurted out, much louder than she had intended, practically shouting. She flinched at the sound of her own voice echoing through the spacious studio. She peeked over at the production team still huddled around the table, they were all looking over at her, of course.

“Sorry!” She called, using her inside voice like a normal adult. She watched as they all turned back to their discussion before looking back at Mai.

Ty Lee could never tell what Mai was thinking and right now was no exception.

“Sorry,” She repeated in an even quieter voice. “I, uh, hi! I’m Ty Lee!”

“I know.”

“I- what?” Ty Lee startled.

“We’ve met before. You’re friends with Azula, I’m friends with Azula’s brother, Zuko? I’m pretty sure we’ve been forced to interact before.” Ty Lee flinched for the second time in the same conversation when Mai used the word “forced”.

“Oh, uh, right. Well, I just wasn’t sure if you still remembered who I was. I didn’t want to just assume that you did.”

“You’re not an easy person to forget.”

“Um,” Ty Lee felt her cheeks heating, “Thank you, I think?”

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” Mai sighed, “Did you come here for a reason?”

Ty Lee was startled by her annoyed tone of voice. She didn’t think she had said anything particularly egregious to have earned that annoyance.

“Um, yeah. So, has Hama mentioned the benefit concert to you yet?” Her voice trailed higher at the end of her question, as it tended to do when she was nervous.

“Oh, yeah. It sounds cool, are you part of it?” Mai had started walking toward the door of the studio and was now looking over her shoulder, back at Ty Lee, who had not started in the same direction yet.

“Um, yeah! I am! That’s actually why I’m here! Hama told me I should ask you for help with my piece!” Ty Lee scrambled to catch up to Mai, who was already halfway to the door. She looked behind them, back toward the piano and grimaced at the marks Mai’s boots had left on the marley.

“Well, I’m not a dancer, so I doubt I’ll be all that helpful.” Mai pushed the doors to the studio open and glanced briefly at Ty Lee before looking away again.

“Well, the thing is,” Ty Lee tried to remember what she had planned to say when she was in the hallway. “Um, Hama wants me to do an original piece that I choreograph myself! She also recommended that I dance to original music and said that I should ask you about composing a piece?”

Mai paused in progress toward the callboard. “She wants me to write a song for you to dance to?” It was hard to tell, but Ty Lee thought she seemed frustrated by this. Well, that was certainly not encouraging, but Ty Lee was never one to back down from a challenge.

“Yes, she said that you had mentioned that you enjoyed composing your own music and thought it would be a good idea for us to collaborate on this project together.”

“Ok.”

Ty Lee stopped in her tracks. “What?”

Mai sighed again. “I said ‘ok’. I’ll do it.”

Ty Lee had been prepared to put up a fight to convince Mai to work with her and was very thrown off by her swift agreement.

“Oh, that’s… that’s great! Thank you!”

“Yeah, well, don’t thank me yet. Do you have any ideas for what you want this piece to be like?” Mai was studiously looking at tomorrow’s call sheet, which was odd to Ty Lee; shouldn’t she know what her schedule was by now when it was the same schedule every day?

“I have a couple of ideas, nothing fully formed yet. I was thinking we could meet up and discuss more details sometime soon?” Truthfully, Ty Lee had a whole list of half-baked ideas that she could pick from, she was pretty sure every dancer had their own list of dance ideas.

“Ok, give me your phone.” Mai had her hand out expectantly.

“Oh! Exchanging numbers! Good idea!” Ty Lee quickly dug her phone out of her hoodie pocket and unlocked the screen to open up the contacts app. She handed it over to Mai so she could add her contact info in.

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon?” Mai asked without looking up from where she was typing into Ty Lee’s phone.

“Yes! Do you want to discuss ideas over tea, maybe?” Ty Lee was fighting the urge to fidget with a loose thread at the end of her hoodie sleeve as she waited for Mai to hand her phone back.

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll meet you at the tea shop down the block.” She handed Ty Lee back her phone and Ty Lee saw that Mai had sent herself a text, simply reading  _ Ty Lee _ .

“Great! See you then!” Ty Lee smiled at Mai as warmly as she could, but it didn’t matter because the other woman was already looking away from her toward the main exit.

She had apparently that was the end of the conversation and gave a small wave before stuffing her hands in her pockets and shouldering the main door open and turning right, probably toward the bus stop.

Ty Lee let out a deep breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding and slumped over, leaning on the wall of the callboard. 

_ Well, _ Ty Lee thought,  _ it could have been better, but it also could have been a lot worse. _

She was actually rather surprised at how little convincing Mai had needed, considering her apparent disdain for and annoyance with Ty Lee.

Ty Lee felt tired, despite it still only being afternoon and not dancing at all today. As she straightened up from the wall and collected herself to leave the building she considered how she would tell the story of this interaction to Azula.

Well, at least Azula would find it amusing, and if she was feeling nice she might even give Ty Lee some advice to not embarrass herself again. Although, maybe Azula wasn’t the best person to ask for advice about social situations; Ty Lee still remembered the time when she had tried to flirt with the girl at the smoothie place down the street from their apartment. Yeah, if Azula tried to make fun of Ty Lee for her fumbled interaction with Mai, she would just bring up smoothie girl.

Besides, Ty Lee had more important things to worry about than Azula’s teasing; her meeting tomorrow with Mai. Thinking back over the conversation they had had, Ty Lee realized that they hadn’t agreed on a time to meet up. She pulled out her phone again, probably a little too enthusiastically. She opened up the messages app and opened the conversation with Mai’s name and composed a text:  _ hey, just realized we never agreed on a time for tomorrow! would 1:30 work for you? _

She slipped her phone back into her pocket and tried not to think about it. She pulled her sweatshirt hood down wishing she had put on a coat. Why she had decided to forgo a coat in late December was beyond her, but she was definitely regretting it now as she stepped out into the cold. Ty Lee had not grown up in a cold region, she was used to winters being chilly at worst, never this kind of biting cold.

She was rounding the corner, shivering, when she felt her phone buzz with a text next to the hand she had shoved as deep into her pocket as she could in a vain attempt to keep her fingers from freezing.

She eagerly pulled it out, telling herself to calm down. It wasn’t a big deal, just a text to confirm plans for a work-related meeting.

_ yeah, that’s fine. _ The text from Mai read.

Ty Lee fought the smile that was making its way onto her face. It was just tea with a coworker! A really pretty and talented coworker, but a coworker nonetheless. 

_ Awesome! See you then!! :D  _

Ty Lee stared at the smiley face for a minute before deciding to hit send. If she finished her walk to the bus stop with a new spring in her step, well, then that was her business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There WILL be a Azula and Smoothie Girl fic someday bc i promised Gabe i would write it.
> 
> come scream at me on tumblr @s-sokka


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula helps Ty Lee get ready for her meeting with Mai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, folks! you may notice that the chapter count now says 4/34. that's right, i finished the outline for this fic and it's gonna be 34 chapters long. i can no longer promise that i will finish writing this thing, bc that's really long and i am a busy gal. i will do my best, though! 
> 
> As per usual, thank you to Chadley for beta reading!! i love you
> 
> hope you enjoy!

“Are you ready for your date yet? You’ve been in there long enough,” Azula called to Ty Lee from their shared living room. “I don’t think she’s going to hate you if you have a couple flyaway hairs.”

Ty Lee sighed. “It’s not a date and you know it, Azula.”

“Then why are you putting so much effort into your appearance?” Ty Lee heard Azula’s voice grow louder as she approached the door to Ty Lee’s room. She rapped gently on the door.

“Can I come in?” Ty Lee was not used to Azula asking permission before doing things, but she had found that she appreciated this change in her behavior. Azula used to be a lot less considerate, but Ty Lee always knew that she was capable of changing for the better. Well, she was also capable of changing for the worse, but that wasn’t something that they needed to worry about now that Azula was in therapy.

“Yeah,” Ty Lee pulled the door open for Azula to step in. Azula walked carefully into the room, tiptoeing through like she didn’t think she was allowed to be in Ty Lee’s private space. She sat down on the end of Ty Lee’s bed gingerly.

“You seem really nervous about this, I can stop teasing about it if that would help?” Azula sounded unsure, like she felt out of her element, which she probably did in Ty Lee’s brightly decorated room.

She knew that Azula thought it was cramped, but Ty Lee felt like her room was cozy. Since they were renting it, she couldn’t paint the walls pink like she wanted to, so she had settled for covering the two side walls in a probably hazardous amount of pink string lights. One the left wall was Ty Lee’s vanity setup, she knew she could just use her bathroom counter (she and Azula had separate bathrooms) but she tried to keep that area clean as best as she could. 

Key word being tried.

One of the main reasons Azula felt so out of place, besides the decor choices, was that Ty Lee’s room was a mess. Now, her room was not dirty, it was messy and there was a difference between dirty and messy. Not that Azula cared about the differences, she was a neat freak and if a space was organized to Azula’s liking then it might as well have been dirty.

Ty Lee didn’t really care what Azula thought of her room, though. She liked her big fuzzy chair that took up way too much room and functioned less as a chair and more as a laundry hamper. She liked that her bookshelf was overflowing onto the floor because she couldn’t stop buying new books (even though she still had to read the ones she already had). She liked that her vanity mirror was plastered in photos and notes from throughout the years. Organization was not Ty Lee’s strongest point, and she liked it like that.

Ty Lee watched as Azula played with a loose thread in the comforter Ty Lee currently had on her bed. It was a glow in the dark outer space themed bedspread that Azula had gifted to Ty Lee for her birthday 3 years ago. Ty Lee absolutely loved it.

“No,” Ty Lee sighed as she stood up to go sit next to Azula, still braiding her long hair. “The teasing isn’t what’s making me nervous, but I appreciate you considering my comfort.”

She plopped down unceremoniously onto the bed as she reached the end of the braid and pulled a hair tie off of her wrist to keep it from falling out.

Azula scooted back on the blanket to see Ty Lee’s face as she spoke to her. A communication skill she had learned in therapy, no doubt.

“What’s making you feel so nervous then?” Azula sounded annoyed, but Ty Lee knew better.

“It’s just that Mai already doesn’t seem to like me and I don’t want to make her like me even less! We have to work together on this project for four months, it would suck if she hated me the whole time.”

“I don’t think she actually dislikes you,” Azula started to get more comfortable as she settled in next to Ty Lee a little more. “I think she’s just like that with everyone.”

Ty Lee groaned, “But what if she’s not? She seemed annoyed that I was even talking to her in the first place!”

“Like I said, I think that’s just how she is. I don’t think she’s a very social person. It makes sense that she would be such good friends with Zuko, he has absolutely no social skills.” It was not a nice thing to say, but she said it with an obvious fondness for her brother.

“How is Zuko, by the way? I haven’t heard from him recently.”

Azula gave Ty Lee one of her signature Looks that meant she knew that Ty Lee was trying to avoid talking about Mai, but was letting it slide without mentioning it. Hey, she shouldn’t have mentioned Zuko if she didn’t want Ty Lee to change the subject! Also, she was genuinely curious about how he was doing these days.

“He’s great, audition season is starting soon, so he’s getting ready for that. He shouldn’t have much trouble finding a job though, considering he just got off a national tour. I’m sure theaters everywhere would be thrilled to have him work for them.”

“Even without the prestige of the tour on his resume he would still be a catch for any theater, he’s always been so talented!” 

Azula grinned, proudly and smugly. “Yes, he really has been.”

Ty Lee liked to see Azula’s pride for her brother, she knew that they had both put a lot of work into repairing their relationship after they had both moved out of their father’s house. They had gotten a lot closer since leaving the toxic and competitive environment they had grown up in.

“How’s that boyfriend of his? Sokka?” Ty Lee prompted.

“Zuko told me that he got a job teaching at a surprisingly well-funded public high school. He’s the new director of the student orchestra there and he’s going to be teaching classes too. I guess that’s a pretty big deal or something. I don’t know, Zuko sounded really proud when he told me.”

“That’s great! Teaching seems like it would be a lot of fun. From all the stuff you’ve told me, that sounds like it’ll be the perfect job for him!” The only things Ty Lee knew about Sokka were what she learned from Azula’s conversations with her brother about him.

“Yeah, I think he’s been good for Zuko. He seems really happy with him.” Azula was the younger of the two, but that didn’t stop her from feeling protective of her brother. Ty Lee thought it was sweet that she cared so much.

“Anyway,” Azula sat up and stretched her arms out over her head. “No more stalling, you’re gonna be late for your date if you don’t get going soon.”

“It’s not a date, Azula.” Ty Lee knew Azula was only teasing and also that it was pointless to correct her, but she felt obligated to anyway.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” Ty Lee saw a flash of Azula’s grin as she stood to give Ty Lee space to finish getting ready.

Ty Lee also stood and let out a deep sigh. She hated that she actually felt like she was getting ready for a date when this was definitely not one. It was like her brain was getting her hopes up for nothing even though it knew it was just a meeting.

“Hey,” Azula turned around from the door where she had been about to leave. “Whatever happens at your meeting, it’s gonna be okay. She couldn’t hate you if she tried, no one could. I would know.” She smirked as she got to the end of her otherwise sweet reassurance.

“Thanks, Azula.” She rolled her eyes, but she knew Azula would see the fondness in the action.

Azula seemed to hesitate, like she wasn’t sure if she needed to say anything else, before replacing her expression of uncertainty with a smirk, and she dipped out of the room.

Ty Lee turned to give herself a final glance in the mirror. Well, this was just gonna have to do for now. She grabbed her purse off of her desk and threw it over her shoulder on her way out. She stopped in the doorway, she was not going to forget her coat again this time!

She passed Azula’s room on her way down the hall, her door was shut and apparently she was done for the day. It was only 1:00pm, but Ty Lee thought that was fair anyway.

She stopped at the door to make sure she had everything she needed; phone, keys, wallet, looming sense of dread? All there, it was time to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter was kind of short and not a lot happened in it, the next chapter is pretty eventful, so hopefully that will make up for it! the next chapter is also twice the length of this one, so you can look forward to that, i guess!
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr @s-sokka


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee and Mai's meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, folks! I don't have much to say about this, but I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> As always, thank you Chadley (@idiotsokka on tumblr) for beta-reading!!

Ty Lee was starting to regret every decision she had ever made that had led her to this point. It was probably best if she just ceased to exist.

She was seated in a booth at the tea shop she and Mai had agreed to meet at. Ty Lee had gotten there 15 minutes early, just to be safe. 

That was 45 minutes ago.

Ty Lee had checked the text she had sent Mai probably 10 times now. She checked again now. Yep, still said 1:30. She checked the time in the upper corner and watched as it changed from 2:15 to 2:16.

Great.

She had texted Mai about 30 minutes ago to make sure she was okay. 

_ hey!! at the teashop!! wanted to check in with you, hope everything is ok!! _

No response. 

Ty Lee had had to order her drink so that she would be allowed to sit in the shop, but she had been too nervous to drink it and now it was cold. She was wondering if this situation could get any worse when her phone buzzed.

She perked up, hoping it was a text from Mai saying that she was on her way.

_ How’s the date going?  _ Read a text from Azula.

Ty Lee groaned and dropped her phone into her lap and cradled her head in her arms on the table. This sucked. She probably looked like a loser, sitting there by herself for 45 minutes. She was clearly waiting for someone to show up, she kept glancing over her shoulder to check the door every 30 seconds.

She considered her options; at this point, it probably wouldn’t be unreasonable for her to leave and just reschedule when Mai was less busy. That didn’t seem unreasonable at all. No, in fact, what was unreasonable was that Ty Lee was still sitting there waiting for someone who obviously didn’t care enough to remember their meeting.

She heard the door open behind her, but she didn’t bother lifting her head to see if it was Mai, she knew it wasn’t. She didn’t look up even when she heard a rustling of fabric across the booth from her.

“Ty Lee, I am so sorry!” Ty Lee looked up at the sound of her name. She would not have guessed it was Mai speaking it if she hadn’t been standing right across from her. Ty Lee had never heard Mai speak with that much emotion in her voice before. Not that she had heard Mai speak much at all, but still.

When Ty Lee pulled herself out of her thoughts, Mai was still talking, “Rehearsal ran way over, like a whole 15 minutes, and I couldn’t get out on time. And then I couldn’t find my coat, of course it ended up being under the lid of the piano, and I’m still not sure how I didn’t hear that when I was playing. And then--”

“Hey,” Ty Lee tried to sound calm as she cut off Mai’s rambling. “It’s alright, I’m just glad you’re okay, I was getting worried.”

Ty Lee was sure that the blush on Mai’s cheeks was just from the cold.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry.” Mai sighed as she dropped down into the seat across from Ty Lee and started to take off her coat. Ty Lee had never seen a coat with so many buttons on it.

“Like I said, it’s alright. Things happen.” Like she hadn’t just spent the better half of the past hour freaking out. Ty Lee frowned as what Mai had said finally clicked in her mind.

“You said rehearsal ran over? They’re not allowed to do that, it’s against union rules. You should mention it to Hama if she doesn’t already know about it by now.” Hama was a huge stickler about obeying union rules, probably because she knew the importance of safe working conditions from experience. When she had become the artistic director of the entire company she had made certain that the company was running in total compliance with union regulations. If a director was violating those regulations Hama would do what she had to do to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

“Yeah, I’ll stop by her office tomorrow morning to let her know.” Mai finished the last of the buttons on her coat and looked up, her eyes catching on Ty Lee’s still full and now cold tea. Ty Lee could tell that she was about to try to apologize again.

"No more apologies. But," Ty Lee paused for a moment and smiled. "You can show me how sorry you are by buying me a new cup of tea. Oolong, please."

Ty Lee pushed her cup over towards Mai who looked grateful for a chance to prove her remorse.  As she grabbed it and stood up from the table, her coat now resting on the back of her chair, Ty Lee was able to appreciate her outfit.  Mai was wearing a black scoop neck shirt with three quarter length sleeves tucked into red and black plaid pants. She was also wearing bright red boots, which Ty Lee thought was cute. The outfit, that was, not Mai. Not that Mai wasn’t cute, she was, but that wasn’t what Ty Lee had been thinking about, and Mai actually was more beautiful than cute, and…

Maybe this line of thought was a bad idea.

Ty Lee did not watch as Mai made her way to the counter to the sound of indie acoustic covers of popular songs.

Ty Lee picked her phone back up from where she had dropped it into her lap before Mai had arrived. The screen had turned off so she unlocked it again and opened her messages to Azula. 

_ she just got here, apparently rehearsal for la sylphide ran way over _

Azula’s reply was almost immediate.

_ Hama’s not gonna like that.  _

Then, right after the first text:

_ Put your phone away and get back to your date, don’t be rude [winky face] _

_ you’re the one who texted me in the first place!!  _ Ty Lee shot back, but then she did what Azula said and put her phone into her pocket where she wouldn’t see it go off with any more texts. She was feeling relieved that Mai hadn’t forgotten about their meeting, she had been ready to leave the shop altogether.

She looked over at where Mai was waiting for their tea to finish steeping; it seemed as though they had made a fresh pot of Oolong. Ty Lee wondered if Mai had asked them specifically to do that. She really did seem to feel bad about being late,  if the panicked look on her face was any indicator.

She watched Mai text someone quickly, her long fingers as nimble on her phone keyboard as they were on the piano keys. She finished typing and slipped her phone back into her deep pants pockets just as the barista approached with two large mugs. Ty Lee watched Mai thank her, and when the girl who had served her had walked away, Mai slipped a couple of dollars into the tip jar. 

Ty Lee liked this tea shop a lot, but it was no replacement for the ones back home. In Caldera, she had had some of the best tea of her life. The atmosphere was also more homey, this place felt more like a Starbucks than an actual authentic tea shop like the ones at home. Regardless of Ty Lee’s feelings about the atmosphere and authenticity of the shop, they did serve a good Oolong.

Ty Lee was snapped out of her tea-related thoughts by Mai’s arrival at the table.

“I asked them to steep a fresh pot for you, so it should still be pretty hot. Be careful.” She warned before sliding the mug gently across the table to Ty Lee.

“Thanks, but you didn’t have to ask them to do that.” Ty Lee picked up the mug with both hands and blew across the top of the mug.

“I know, but I felt bad that your first cup went cold because of me.” 

“It wasn’t because of you,” Ty Lee protested. “It’s because of the director. Who is directing  _ La Sylphide _ , by the way? I can’t remember.”

“Pakku.” Mai rolled her eyes. Ty Lee understood why, she had worked with the man before and he was nothing short of a nightmare.

“I don’t know why Hama hasn’t just fired him yet.” Ty Lee commiserated.

“It’s only a matter of time at this point,” Mai agreed. “Today’s offense is not going to go over well. And he’s already been on thin ice for years, from what I’ve heard about him.”

Ty Lee nodded. “His attitude is the worst, he’s always so rude to the female dancers, but he never even gives notes to the men. I think the only reason Hama hasn’t fired him yet is his reputation as a supposed ‘master’.” She made air quotes around the word.

“Yeah, master of being an asshole.” Mai muttered, her bluntness catching Ty Lee off guard.

“You’re right and you should say it.” Ty Lee laughed, and Mai looked startled by it. It was kind of a sweet expression to see on her face, her cheeks tinged pink with the slightest of blushes.

Mai schooled her expression back to one of neutrality and Ty Lee couldn’t help but feel disappointed by it.

“So, do you have any New Year’s plans?” Mai asked stiltedly, clearly not used to having to make small talk.

“Azula and I were just planning on staying in, we’re both used to celebrating the new year with our families, so it’s nice to be able to celebrate together.” Ty Lee smiled, New Year with Azula was always fun, but it did make her miss her family. Traditionally, the New Year was a time to spend with family, and out here, that was Azula. She was not displeased by this, but that didn’t mean she didn’t wish she could be with her parents and her sisters. It was also a very drawn out event back home and neither of them usually had time for four days of celebration. They practiced a very abbreviated version of the holiday, and probably drank a lot more than would have been allowed at home.

“That’s really nice, Zuko and I used to celebrate together, too.” Ty Lee saw the slightest hint of a smile on her face as she thought of her best friend.

“What about now? Do you have anyone to celebrate with in Ba Sing Se?” Ty Lee took a sip of her tea. It was the perfect temperature.

Mai shook her head. “No, but that’s okay. I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s anyway. It’s just another year.”

“Do you have any resolutions?” Ty Lee asked, thinking that her own resolution of talking to Mai for longer than 30 seconds was already going very well and the new year hadn’t even started yet.

Mai shrugged. “Not really, like I said, it’s just another year. I don’t need a holiday to be able to make changes in my life. I don’t think resolutions should be restricted to one day of the year.”

“Huh,” Ty Lee said thoughtfully. “I’ve never thought about it like that, but I guess you’re right.”

That hint of a smile was back on Mai’s face. Ty Lee was starting to really like that expression on her.

“So, as fun as all this New Year’s talk is, we should probably discuss the benefit concert piece.” Mai switched the subject, and her tone switched to one that left no room for discussion of anything else.

“Yeah! Good idea!” Ty Lee set her mug down and rubbed her hands together, trying to recall even one of the ideas she had been considering for the concert.

“You said you had some ideas already, right?” Mai prompted, looking at Ty Lee expectantly.

Ty Lee tried not to blush under her intense gaze. “Uh, yeah! I did, but now that I’m thinking about them now I’m realizing that they’re not actually that great of ideas.”

A brief look of annoyance passed over Mai’s face. Dang, Ty Lee had really started to enjoy seeing her face without the annoyance on it.

“Ok,” Mai said slowly, clearly trying to reason this out with herself. “So what’s your plan then?”

Ty Lee considered this. What was her plan?

Oh! 

“Well,” She started, using her sweetest tone of voice. “Maybe we could go out looking for inspiration.” She suggested with a smile.

Mai stared at her blankly.

Ty Lee scrambled to explain her idea. “Like, you and I could go someplace in the city to look for things that inspire us! Ooh!” She perked up with another great idea. “We could go ice skating!”

Mai’s stare had now turned from blank to disbelieving. “Ice skating?”

“Yeah!” Ty Lee said, getting into the idea now. “It’s just like dancing except that now there’s an extra layer of danger cause there’s knives on your feet!”

Mai had a strange expression on her face that Ty Lee could not identify.

“You okay?” She asked, concerned she had said something wrong. Again.

And just like that, the look was gone.

“Yeah. Fine, we can try ice skating.” Mai said, giving in with much less convincing than Ty Lee had anticipated. Again. Maybe her most convincing tone of voice was really that good at its job.

“Yay!” She said, brightly, giving Mai a big smile. Mai seemed to scowl a little and avert her eyes at this, which made Ty Lee stop smiling. She saw Mai checking her phone and sending a quick text before looking back up at Ty Lee.

“How about you text me the details and I’ll just meet you there?” Mai seemed to be rushing the conversation along all of a sudden, making Ty Lee wonder what kind of text she had received that had caused the sudden change.

“Yeah, I’ll text you. Would Thursday evening work?” Ty Lee mentally thought of her schedule, she would definitely be free that night.

“Probably, I’ll check my schedule and get back to you.” Mai drained the rest of her tea in one go. Ty Lee was impressed.

“I’m sorry I have to go so suddenly,” Mai started as she slipped her coat back on, which was difficult to do while she was still seated in the booth. “Zuko is having a crisis because he doesn’t remember how to audition for a show anymore.” She rolled her eyes fondly.

“Oh, I forgot Azula mentioned it was audition season for him.” Ty Lee remembered back on her conversation with Azula from earlier that afternoon.

“Yeah,” Mai shook her head slightly. “He seems to think that he lost all of his skills after closing the tour. He’s kind of an idiot.” She sighed.

Ty Lee giggled. “He’s a really smart guy,” She said. “He just lacks common sense sometimes.”

Mai stood up and started to button her coat back up. “Yeah, he’s a goof.” 

She looked up as she finished her buttons. “Do you want me to return your mug for you?”

Ty Lee shook her head. “No, I think I’m gonna stay for a little bit longer and finish up first.” She smiled up at Mai, who shrugged again.

“Ok,” A look of regret flashed across her face again. “I really am sorry about being so late. I wish I could say it won’t happen again, but you know how Pakku is.”

Ty Lee grimaced in sympathy. “That’s okay, maybe just try to shoot me a text next time if it looks like he’s gonna run late again?”

Mai nodded. “I can do that.” She stood there for a moment, looking like she was going to continue speaking. The moment passed and she turned back to face Ty Lee.

“Well, have a nice rest of your evening. Don’t forget to text me some more details about this ice skating stuff.”

Ty Lee grinned. “I’ll send it to you when I get home. Have a good night and tell Zuko I said ‘hi’!”

Mai nodded once and took her empty mug over to the return area before turning and waving to Ty Lee. Ty Lee watched as Mai stepped back out into the cold, it had started snowing at some point while they had been sitting there talking over tea and the snowflakes were sticking to Mai’s hair, a sharp contrast of white against her jet black buns.

She watched as Mai disappeared around the corner before turning back to her own half-full mug of tea. She fought back a smile as she thought of her plans with Mai. Ty Lee had never actually been ice skating herself, but she used to love rollerblading as a kid, and those were practically the same things.

She pulled out her phone and started to search for ice skating rinks in the area. Time to start planning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come chat on tumblr if you want to @s-sokka


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year's Eve with Azula and Ty Lee!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, folks! i know i usually post these later in the evening, but i'm having an absolutely awful week and i know i'm gonna forget to post if i don't do it right now lol.
> 
> there is mention of alcohol in this chapter, Azula and Ty Lee are celebrating the new year with some adult beverages, so if that's something you're not comfy with you might wanna skip this chapter. i'll put a summary in the end notes if you want to just read that instead! I'll also add a tag for it, just to be safe!!
> 
> thank you Gabe (@shortkingzuko on tumblr) for beta-ing this chapter for me! absolute king
> 
> hope you all enjoy!

Ty Lee was glad her parents couldn’t see her right now. She was sprawled on the floor, but that was nothing new, Ty Lee had been doing that for as long as she could remember. No, her parents wouldn’t have cared that she was on the ground, but they certainly would have cared about the reason she was currently draped over Azula’s feet as Azula herself was spread out over the couch. 

She was still sitting up, but Ty Lee knew it was only a matter of time until Azula would join her on the big circular shag rug they had in their living room. It was such a nice rug; it was striped pink and red (a compromise between Ty Lee and Azula’s favorite colors, of course) and it was in Ty Lee’s top three list of places to lay on the floor of their apartment. Number one was the kitchen because it annoyed Azula and also she liked the cold feeling of tiles on her skin, and number two was her own bedroom (though it was often too cluttered to lay in).

As if she had heard Ty Lee’s thoughts, Azula sighed deeply and rolled to her side to push herself off of the couch, dislodging her feet from underneath Ty Lee in the process.

“Hey!” Ty Lee tried to sound serious. “I was using those!” She didn’t bother trying to sit up, Azula was already starting to seat herself next to Ty Lee’s head. She was impatiently trying to get Ty Lee’s long ponytail out of the way so that she wouldn’t sit on it.

“Using my feet?” Azula scoffed as she flung Ty Lee’s hair onto her face. Ty Lee spluttered as she got a mouthful of it. “You do realize how weird that sounds, right?”

“It only sounds weird if you make it sound weird, I obviously meant that I was using them as a headrest.” Ty Lee stuck her tongue out to punctuate her words. Azula just stuck her tongue out right back, which looked funny to Ty Lee since it was upside down to her. She giggled.

“What are you laughing at, weirdo?” Azula wasn’t actually annoyed, but she sure was good at pretending that she was.

“You’re upside down,” Ty Lee continued to laugh. “Your face is all messed up from this angle.”

Azula clutched a hand to her heart in a surprisingly convincing display of fake hurt. “Are you calling me ugly? Me? Your best friend?”

This only made Ty Lee laugh harder, Azula was the furthest thing from ugly, but she already knew that and Ty Lee wasn’t going to say it and give her an ego boost that she didn’t need.

“Yes. Hideous. Monstrous. Beastly. I can hardly stand to look at you.” Ty Lee covered her eyes with the hand that was precariously holding a drink in it to emphasize her point. She was not quite sure what was in the drink she was holding, as was usually the case when she was drinking something that Azula had made for her. Azula mixed lethal cocktails, she would have been an excellent bartender if she had had better customer service skills. The thought of Azula working in customer service made Ty Lee snort a laugh.

“What are you laughing at now?” Azula rolled her eyes.

“I was just imagining you working in a bar and having to deal with drunk men hitting on you.” Ty Lee said through her laughter. “If you could throw flames at them, you absolutely would.”

Azula looked satisfied with this answer. “Of course I would. Men are not allowed to speak to me, much less flirt with me.” She flipped her as she said this, or at least she tried to, but the couch right behind her head prevented it from appearing as dramatic as she had probably intended. 

Azula paused in consideration. “It would really cool to be able to throw flames, actually. I think I would have a lot of fun with that.”

“You’d commit a lot of arson with that, is what you would do.”

“Yeah, like I said, I would have a lot fun with it.”

“I don’t think I would want to throw flames at people or buildings or whatever. I think I would feel bad about destroying someone else’s property.”

Azula barked out a laugh that Ty Lee only heard from her when they were drinking. “You wouldn’t care about doing property damage, you’re not as innocent as you like people to think you are. You just don’t like fire.” She picked her cup up off the coffee table and took a long drink. Ty Lee thought it was very like Azula to remember to put it on a coaster even when she was drunk.

“Is it midnight yet?” Ty Lee was having fun spending time with Azula, but she just wanted the new year to start a little quicker. Azula twisted to grab her phone off of the couch where she had left it. Ty Lee loved Azula’s lockscreen photo, it was a picture they had taken together last fall when they had gone apple-picking at an orchard outside of the city. In it they were both holding apples in their mouths and making wide eyes at the camera. It was a very cute photo.

Azula clicked the power button and the photo disappeared. “It’s 11:40, we’re almost there.” She sounded bored and Ty Lee knew that this wasn’t an act for her, Azula was kind of like Mai in that she didn’t care much for the New Year. Azula didn’t make resolutions, she just did what she wanted, which had gotten her pretty far in life, so it was hard to criticise her for it.

Azula picked up her cup again and drained it in one long gulp. “I’m going to go refill, do you need anything from the kitchen while I’m up?” Azula pulled herself off the floor and looked down at where Ty Lee was still lying on the ground.

Ty Lee considered for a moment. “Snacks and a refill.”

“I’m gonna need you to be a little more specific, what kind of snacks? And what were you drinking?”

Ty Lee frowned. “I have no idea what I was drinking, you’re the one who made it for me. As for the snacks, just use your best judgement. Be quick! I don’t want you to miss midnight!”

Azula rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay, I’ll hurry.” 

Ty Lee closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Azula making their drinks in the kitchen. They had the countdown playing on the TV, but they had muted it a while ago. Neither of them were very fond of the singers who had been performing for the past couples of hours.

Ty Lee thought now might be a good time to reflect on the past year. It had been a good year for her, she had gotten to dance with Azula in every show they’d been in this year, which was always a plus. There had been the standard fair of shows this season, but they had also gotten to be a part of a new piece that was being created by a guest choreographer from a city near Caldera. The piece had been titled  _ The Herbalist _ and had told the story of a young boy who went on a quest to find medicine to save his sick friends, but had gotten captured along the way by a mysterious masked figure. It had been a lot of fun to work on, Ty Lee had gotten to play the boy and Azula had played the masked figure. Both roles were male roles, technically, but since the characters were children in the story it was fine if they were played by two girls. She sort of hoped it would come back through in the rotation of the company’s repertoire sometime soon.

Other than that, though, there hadn’t been any issues for either of them this year. They had been happy and that meant that it had been a good year, Ty Lee decided.

Ty Lee drifted out of her thoughts as she heard Azula rummaging through their snack cabinet. Ty Lee hoped it was the unhealthy snack cabinet. They had two cabinets for snacks, one for healthy ones, one for tasty ones. There was very little overlap between the two snack categories, they had discovered. When Ty Lee heard Azula pressing buttons on the microwave she knew that Azula had picked from the unhealthy cabinet. Nice.

Azula emerged from the kitchen with a drink in either hand and a small smile on her face.

“Your snack is in the microwave as we speak.” Azula set the drinks down on coasters, putting Ty Lee’s in front of her. Ty Lee heard popping noises coming from the kitchen and shot up to a seated position from where she was lying down.

“Popcorn!” Ty Lee loved popcorn, Azula knew this. Obviously.

“Lie back down, I wanna sit.” Azula ignored Ty Lee’s exclamation.

“But you’re gonna have to get up again in a couple minutes to go get the popcorn anyway.”

“Oh, I guess you’re right.” Azula heaved a dramatic sigh. “You and your high effort snacking habits make my life so much more difficult.”

“Oh, shut up. Don’t pretend you don’t love me for it.”

“I don’t love you for it, I love you in spite of it.” Azula used her foot to kick Ty Lee’s hair onto her face and into her mouth for the second time that evening.

“Hey! Rude!” Ty Lee said after spitting her hair out of her mouth. Again. “Go get my popcorn so it doesn’t burn, meanie.”

“Of course, your highness!” Azula bowed to Ty Lee and then turned to go retrieve the popcorn.

Ty Lee stayed in her seated position to look out into the kitchen where Azula was now opening the microwave and shaking the bag. She watched as she opened the cupboard to grab a large bowl to pour it in.

“What seasonings do you want on it?” Azula called back to Ty Lee without turning her head away from her task.

Ty Lee considered. They had a huge selection of popcorn seasonings to choose from, they had gotten a variety pack of 15 different flavors as a gift from Zuko.

“Did you hear me?” Azula called out again.

“Yeah! Do we have any of the buffalo wing stuff left? I feel like we really liked that last time.”

Azula moved things around in the cupboard looking for said seasoning before she found it. 

“Yup, found it.” She said as she started sprinkling it over the bowl. When she was done she replaced it in the cupboard and made her way back out to the living room. As she approached, Ty Lee lay back down and moved her hair out of the way before Azula could do it for her.

Azula settled back in next to Ty Lee and set the bowl on the floor in front of her face. 

“Don’t eat while lying down, you might choke.” Azula warned as she started digging into the bowl.

“I’m pretty sure that’s only true when you’re drinking something.” Ty Lee countered, reaching into the bowl herself.

“Perhaps it is. Whatever, be careful anyway.” Azula started drinking from her cup again. Sometimes it scared Ty Lee that Azula could drink something that strong without flinching even a little bit. That just didn’t seem natural.

“What did you put in the drinks this time?” Ty Lee didn’t know why she was even asking, it wasn’t like she knew anything about alcohol.

“Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.” Azula said with an arrogant air that said she knew that Ty Lee wouldn’t have any idea what she was talking about even if she did tell her.

“Fine, be like that. See if I care!” Ty Lee pouted. She pushed herself up to reach her cup and took a tentative sip.

“Spirits, Azula!” Ty Lee almost spit the drink back out, it was strong.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I put in there. That’s sort of the point.” Azula smirked.

“You know, someday I’m going to get tired of your bad jokes and probably lethal mixed drinks and then where will you be?” Ty Lee grumbled.

Azula paused at this, frowning slightly to herself. Ty Lee quickly backtracked.

“Wait, no, Azula! I didn’t mean that, I promise. I would never drop you, especially not for something silly like that! I’m sorry for saying that.”

Azula smiled at Ty Lee and Ty Lee could tell that she was trying not to show how relieved she felt. Which only made Ty Lee feel worse, so she set down her drink and quickly flung her arms around Azula’s shoulders before she had time to protest the hug.

“You will never be able to get rid of me, I’m permanent. Like a permanent marker! Except those aren’t actually very permanent, are they? I feel like they wash out pretty easily and also they can get rubbed off of things. Like, if you write on a folder or something and then put that folder in your backpack a lot the words will rub off eventually. And--”

“It’s okay, Ty Lee, I get it.” Azula patted Ty Lee on the head as she cut off her rambling.

“But for real, have you ever noticed that about permanent markers? It’s false advertising. Someone should sue for that, they’d probably get a lot of money out of that suit.” Ty Lee continued, she was on a roll now.

“You know what?” Azula turned her head to gaze down at where Ty Lee’s head was resting on her shoulder. “I think you might be right about that.”

“We shouldn’t sue because we don’t need the money, but if we ever have a friend who is in need of some easy money we should share that idea with them.” Ty Lee didn’t think any of their friends would ever find themselves in that sort of situation, but it never hurt to have a backup plan, just in case.

“Good idea.” Azula nodded. Then her gaze caught on the soundless TV screen. “Oh! Less than a minute left, do you want me to turn the sound back on so we can count down?” 

Ty Lee nodded and straightened up so that she was no longer wrapped around Azula like an octopus. “Yes, please!”

Azula reached for the remote from the coffee table and hit the button to unmute the TV. A bunch of celebrities that neither of them had ever heard of were talking about a special year this had been and how fantastic the next year would be. Gross. Just because it was true didn’t mean they had to say it on national television.

They sat in companionable silence and watched as the big fluorescent numbers on the screen counted down: 13...12...11…

“Ten, nine, eight!” Ty Lee joined in the countdown with the TV program’s hosts, putting a hand on Azula’s shoulder and squeezing slightly.

Azula joined in, hiding her smile. “Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!”

When they reached the end of the countdown the screen in front of them was covered in animated fireworks. Ty Lee gave Azula a kiss on the cheek, as was their New Year’s tradition. Azula would never confess that it made her happy when Ty Lee showed affection, but she didn’t need to say anything. Ty Lee already knew.

“Happy New Year, buddy.” Azula wrapped an arm around Ty Lee’s shoulders and reached her other hand down into the popcorn bowl that was now sitting half empty between them.

“Happy New Year, buddy.” Ty Lee echoed back with a smile at her best friend. “I have a feeling this one is gonna be a good one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter summary: Azula and Ty Lee celebrate NYE together in their apartment. Azula makes them drinks and snacks, there's a lot of banter and good-natured teasing, Ty Lee reflects on the year she's had and decides that it was a good year. That's pretty much it!
> 
> i think next chapter is the ice skating chapter!! so there's that to look forward to i guess!!
> 
> Thanks for reading! feel free to come talk to me on tumblr if you want, @s-sokka.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai and Ty Lee go ice skating!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hello i hope you are all doing well!! here is the next chapter for your reading enjoyment!!
> 
> Thanks Gabe (@shortkingzuko on tumblr) for beta reading!!
> 
> i really need to figure out how to add links to these author notes, this is getting ridiculous, huh?

“Are you dead in there? Do I need to call an ambulance?” Azula’s voice came through the door to Ty Lee’s room.

“I’m not dead. Yet. Probably won’t be long now, though.” Ty Lee examined her reflection and groaned. She looked absolutely ridiculous wearing her winter clothing, but she knew that it would be a terrible idea to go without it. She and Mai were going ice skating, after all. The epitome of a winter activity.

Ty Lee was really starting to question her decision to go ice skating, of all the things she could have suggested, it had to be ice skating? She had never even been ice skating before, she grew up in a volcano, there wasn’t really a great ice skating spot there for pretty obvious reasons.

She was wearing her pink puffy coat, of course. It had been surprisingly hard to find a decent winter coat that was pink, even this one was a dusty pink, not the bright shades that Ty Lee typically preferred. But she had had to sacrifice aesthetics for function, much to her dismay. She thought it was disgusting that she had to choose between being cute or not freezing to death.

In addition to her dusty pink coat, Ty Lee had on the pink winter accessories that her sister (Ty Liu) had crocheted for her when Ty Lee had announced to her family that she had gotten an offer to work in Ba Sing Se. The hat, gloves, and scarf had all been made with soft, thick yarn in Ty Lee’s favorite shade of pink. They had been an excellent gift and Ty Lee loved them, especially because they had been handmade by someone she loved.

Underneath all of her winter gear, Ty Lee was wearing a pink knit sweater (knitted for her by Ty Lat) and a pair of high-waisted jeans. Nothing too crazy, just a comfy outfit to keep warm.

It didn’t really matter if Ty Lee looked cute, really. It wasn’t a date, so Mai probably wouldn’t care what she looked like when she showed up. It was just another work-related meeting, Ty Lee had to keep reminding herself of this when she had been picking her outfit for the evening. She had texted Mai the details of their meetup and they had agreed to meet at the ice rink Ty Lee had found online at 8:00pm that night. It was currently 7:40, which meant Ty Lee needed to leave soon. Like, right now.

She sighed and made sure she had her phone, keys, and wallet all safely tucked in her pockets before she flicked off the lights and left her room. As she shut the door behind her, she noticed that Azula was leaning against the wall outside her room with an unimpressed look on her face.

“What’s that face for?” Ty Lee asked as she continued walking down the hallway, knowing that Azula would get up from her spot against the wall to follow her to the living room.

“You’re nervous.” Azula replied.

“Great observation, Azula. Very astute.” Ty Lee tried not to snap, it wasn’t Azula’s fault that she was nervous.

“It’s going to be fine; from what you've told me, Mai felt really guilty about being late last time, I doubt she would do it again if she can control it. Take a deep breath, okay?” She didn’t say this with a soft tone of voice, but it was still somehow very comforting.

Azula continued. “And if for some crazy reason she doesn’t show up, just text me and I’ll come join you. I won’t let you go ice skating alone.”

“Thanks, Azula. I’ll let you know if she doesn’t show up.” Ty Lee smiled at her friend. She really was grateful for her offer, Azula didn’t like the cold any more than Ty Lee did.

Ty Lee felt her phone buzz with a text through the pocket of her jeans. She reached under her coat to pull it out and looked at the screen. It was a text from Mai: _on the bus now, see you soon._

Ty Lee hadn’t realized she had been smiling at her phone until Azula had reached over to snatch it from her hands. Ty Lee was too slow to be able to protest, Azula had already started reading the text.

“Well, nevermind, then. I guess you can forget about asking me to join you.” Ty Lee knew Azula was trying not to sound relieved, but she was definitely not doing a great job of hiding it.

“Work on concealing your excitement a little more, Azula.” Ty Lee teased as she took her phone back from Azula’s grip.

“Have a good time! Be safe! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Azula was already walking back to her own room to spend the evening in, doing whatever it was that Azula did in her free time.

“Yeah, okay. Have a nice night in!” Ty Lee called out as she opened the front door and slipped out into the hallway. It was noticeably colder out here than it had been in their apartment. Ty Lee quickly opened the door to the stairwell and started her way down. She and Azula lived on the third floor of their building, so it wasn’t a pain to take the stairs. Ty Lee reached the bottom quickly and pushed her way out of the building through the large wooden doors.

Ty Lee didn’t like the cold of winter, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate how beautiful it was; the snow that had been falling consistently and steadily for the past week or so had settled onto the tops of every available surface. There was something about snow that was kind of magical to Ty Lee, probably because she wasn’t very accustomed to it. In a few more years of living in Ba Sing Se, she would probably get sick of it, but for now she thought it was pretty. She especially loved how it looked in the trees, particularly the ones that were still strung with Christmas lights.

She thought about the beauty of winter as she shivered her way to the bus stop, where the bus was already waiting. As she climbed up the steps and found a seat, Ty Lee remembered that she had never texted Mai back. She pulled out her phone once she had taken her seat. 

_see you soon!!_ She typed out and hit send, not worrying that two exclamation points might be too many.

She slipped her phone away into her pocket and sat back to look out the window as they drove past the city. Ty Lee loved to watch people go about their daily lives, she loved to think about what they might have going on in their lives. It was cool to Ty Lee to think that all these other people had their own unique experiences, completely separate from her. It made her feel very small, but in a good way.

Ty lee spent the next several minutes of her bus ride watching the blurring of Christmas lights and streetlights alike. The sun had already set, so the brightness of the lights was stark in the darkness.

When the bus pulled up to Ty Lee’s stop, she quickly stood up and exited the bus, making sure to thank the driver before she stepped off into the night. The rink was only a quick walk from the stop, it took Ty Lee only a couple of minutes until she came up on the brightly lit area. She spotted Mai quickly, a dark and elegant figure amongst all of the brightness surrounding her.

Ty Lee took a moment to admire Mai’s appearance before the other woman spotted her approaching. Mai was wearing the same long black coat she had been wearing to the tea shop at their last meeting. She was wearing bright red pants and her usual shiny black combat boots. Ty Lee wondered how she managed to keep them looking so shiny despite wearing them so often.

She tried not to startle when Mai’s head turned unexpectedly and she spotted her. She was disappointed to see that Mai did not look excited to be here, but she quickly realized that was silly, Mai never looked excited to be anywhere.

Ty Lee smiled brightly at Mai as she stepped closer, into hearing range.

“Hey, it’s good to see you!” Ty Lee greeted as warmly as she could. “Have you been waiting out here very long?”

“No, I only got here a couple of minutes ago. It’s freezing, though, I hope it will get warmer when we get in.” Mai grumbled as she started walking toward the entry gates.

Ty Lee stared after her, open-mouthed before jogging to catch up with her. “Mai, it’s an ice skating rink. It’s made of ice. I don’t think it’s going to be any warmer.”

Mai frowned. “Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

Ty Lee giggled into her scarf, trying not to let Mai hear her. By the look on Mai’s face, she probably hadn’t hidden them very well.

“Listen, I’ve never been ice skating before, I don’t know how any of this works.” Mai tried to defend herself.

“You don’t know how ice works?” Ty Lee wasn’t sure if they were at the point where they could tease each other, yet. They probably weren’t, but that didn’t stop her from poking a little bit of fun, anyway.

She couldn’t tell if the flush on Mai’s face had already been there or if she was actually blushing. Either way, it was cute. 

_No._ Ty Lee told herself. _No thinking Mai is cute, this is not a date._

“I know how ice works!” Mai protested, sounding cross. Maybe they weren’t at the point where they could tease, yet.

Ty Lee quickly started doing some damage control. “I was just teasing, I promise! I definitely believe that you know how ice works.”

Mai looked at Ty Lee as they approached the gate. “I’m surprised you know how ice works, aren’t you from Caldera?”

Ty Lee could not hide her surprised expression at Mai’s question. “Yeah, I am. How did you know that?” She wasn’t upset that Mai knew where she was from, just a little confused.

Mai wasn’t paying attention to Ty Lee at the moment, though. She had turned her focus to the woman at the entrance.

“Hi, I’m paying for both of us.” Mai slid a dark, heavy looking card onto the desk before Ty Lee could protest that it was her idea to do this, so she should be the one paying for it. Mai must have known what Ty Lee was thinking, because she turned to look at her again.

“To make up for being so late last time.” She explained, simply.

“You can stop feeling bad about that, you already made up for it by buying me a new cup of tea. Your debt has already been paid.” Ty Lee responded, secretly gratified that Mai seemed to care so much about it. Ty Lee didn’t want to feel like she had been upset if Mai hadn’t also been upset.

“Well, then we can say that I paid for this because I wanted to and leave it at that.” Ty Lee hid her smile at this response in her scarf. “And to your question, I know you’re from Caldera because of that article that was published about you and Azula a few years ago. Zuko printed it out and put it up in his room, it was pretty cute. He’s really proud of Azula.”

“She’s really proud of him, too. It makes me so happy to see the progress they’ve made together. It used to be that they couldn’t stand each other.” Ty Lee replied as the woman behind the desk strapped a neon pink wristband around Ty Lee’s right wrist.

“Yeah, I remember that, too. I remember how surprised Zuko was when Azula reached out to him.” The woman was putting Mai’s wristband on her now.

Ty Lee paused to think as they thanked the woman and stepped into the rink area, going to the skate rental desk.

“You know, it’s pretty crazy that our respective best friends are siblings and we somehow never had an actual conversation until a week ago.” Ty Lee noted, trying to sound nonchalant and probably failing at it.

“I guess,” Mai started, thoughtfully. “I mean, it’s not like we ever hung out as a group. They didn’t bring us along on their visits to each other.”

Ty Lee nodded. “That’s true, I hadn’t thought of that.” She said as they approached the desk to get their skates.

“Hi!” She greeted the teen who was sitting behind the desk on her phone, clearly bored. “Can I get a size eight, please?” The girl nodded and set her phone down before looking at Mai.

“Ten, please.” Mai answered the girl's unspoken question. The girl turned her back to them as she reached for the proper skates on the shelf situated behind her seat.

“I wish we had gotten to talk to each other sooner, or at least meet each other.” Ty Lee said while they waited for the girl to turn back around.

Mai just hummed in response, Ty Lee wasn’t sure what that meant, but she didn’t think that she liked it.

The employee turned back to them and handed them their respective skates.

“Thank you!” Ty Lee smiled at her before turning towards the benches that surrounded the rink.

Ty Lee had chosen an outdoor rink because it had looked cute on the website and had a lot of positive reviews. It was in the middle of a clearing inside of a small forest. The trees surrounding the perimeter were draped in white fairy lights, which hung over the rink and gave everything a soft glow.There were tall poles stationed around the clearing with speakers attached securely to them. The speakers were playing some Top 40 hit song that Ty Lee had heard a couple of times during her rides on the bus. There was a plexiglass barrier surrounding the ice, with openings throughout it for people to step onto or off of the rink. The benches that sat near the ice were made of simple wood and metal with a cubby under the seat for shoes and other belongings to be placed.

Ty Lee and Mai both took a seat on the bench nearest to the entrance of the clearing. There was an opening in the barrier around the ice near the bench, which meant that they wouldn’t need to try to walk in their skates very far.

Ty Lee started to untie her boots and pull them off. She noticed that Mai was not moving to take off her own boots. 

“You okay?” Ty Lee turned to ask her, seeing that she was staring blankly at the skates sitting in her lap.

“I have no idea how to do this.” She replied, turning her eyes up to meet Ty Lee’s.

Ty Lee set her boots down in the cubby under the seat and put her skates on the ground, careful not to let her socks touch the snow.

“It’s just like putting on normal shoes.” She said to Mai as she slipped her feet into her rented skates and started to lace her right foot.

“No, I know that. I meant that I have no idea how to skate.” Mai sounded frustrated.

Ty Lee finished lacing her first skate and started on her second one. “It’s okay, I’ll help you! I’ve never been ice skating either, but I used to rollerblade a lot and I’m pretty sure it’s a very similar process.” She said, turning to face Mai after finishing the knots on both of her feet.

Mai didn’t look convinced. “You’ve never been ice skating before and you decided to take us ice skating?” She was clearly not impressed.

“Well, it doesn’t seem too difficult to figure out. Like I said, it’s supposed to be just like rollerblading.” Mai still wasn’t biting. “We can leave if you want, I’ll pay you back for the wristbands.”

Mai’s expression changed, finally, but Ty Lee had no idea what it changed to. She was still trying to figure out what Mai’s facial expressions meant.

“No, I’m just being stupid. Let me put these on and then we can give it a try.” Mai put her skates on the ground and started to untie her boot laces.

Ty Lee took this opportunity to look at the other people who were out on the ice tonight. It seemed to mostly be couples, skating together with their hands clasped between them, but there also seemed to be a couple of families. There were a couple of young children stumbling across the ice while their parents held their hands, and a couple older kids zooming around the inside of the rink as if they had been born wearing skates. The song that had been playing when they entered had now changed to one that Ty Lee didn’t recognize at all. The sound of it blended into the laughter and chatter of the people enjoying the ice.

“Ok.” Ty Lee’s attention was brought back to Mai, who was now sitting with her skates tied to her feet and her boots tucked in next to Ty Lee’s. She looked stiff and uncomfortable and Ty Lee felt bad.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? The offer to leave still stands.” Ty Lee gave her another out, in case she had changed her mind.

“I’m sure. Let’s do this.” Mai sounded determined and Ty Lee smiled.

“That’s the spirit!” She said brightly and pulled herself up to her feet. “Let’s get out there!”

  
  


* * *

“Well, that was fun!” Ty Lee said brightly, smiling at Mai’s tired face.

Two hours had gone by, spent on the ice together, and Mai and Ty Lee had had varied degrees of success. They were now sitting across from each other holding hot cocoa in between their frozen fingers in an attempt to thaw them.

Ty Lee had been right about ice skating, it was just like rollerblading and had ended up coming very naturally to her. Mai, on the other hand, had not had the same learning curve.

“Yeah, it was really fun spending most of the past two hours on my ass on the ice.” Mai complained, but Ty Lee could tell that it wasn’t a real complaint.

“So,” Ty Lee ignored the grumbling. “Are you feeling inspired yet?”

“No,” Mai replied, dryly. “I am not feeling inspired. I am feeling cold and sore.”

“Well,” Ty Lee felt obligated to point out. “You wouldn’t be feeling so cold and sore if you had just accepted it when I offered to help you.”

“I didn’t need you to hold my hand like a toddler.” Mai protested, indignant at the suggestion.

“Well, clearly you did if it would have stopped you from falling so much.” Ty Lee said before taking a sip of her cocoa. She usually wasn’t a big fan of sweets, preferring salty foods most of the time, but she would never turn down a cup of hot cocoa. She had insisted on paying since Mai had paid for their wristbands, and Mai had been too tired to put up much of a fight.

“I would rather suffer the embarrassment of falling than the embarrassment of being pulled along like a toddler.” It almost looked like Mai was smiling, but it was hard to tell with her mug in the way.

“One could argue that falling as frequently as you did was also reminiscent of a toddler,” Ty Lee said wisely.

Mai sputtered a little, trying to laugh though she had just taken a sip. She swallowed and coughed a little to clear her throat.

“I guess that’s true.” Now Ty Lee was certain that Mai was smiling. “It probably would have been easier to just accept defeat, huh?”

Ty Lee nodded. “That’s what I tried to tell you!”

“I think it makes sense that I would be bad at ice skating,” Mai said. “What was it you said about it? ‘Ice skating is like dancing, except there’s knives on your feet’?”

Ty Lee recalled her statement from their first meeting. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Well,” Mai continued. “I’m shit at dancing, so it would make sense that I’m shit at ice skating, too. My feet are uncoordinated with or without knives strapped to them.”

“That’s okay, you’re amazing at plenty of other things.” Ty Lee reassured her.

“How would you even know that?” Mai snorted.

“Uhhh, we’ve been coworkers for, like, two years now?” Ty Lee defended. “I see you basically everyday.”

“Yeah, but that’s at work,” Mai argued. “You only ever see me playing the piano, that’s only one thing that you know I’m good at.”

“Not true!” Ty Lee set down her mug on the wooden picnic table they were seated at. “I also know that you’re good at coordinating outfits, you have an impressive sense of style! I know that you’re very adaptable, you can change tempos and cut or add measures on the spot without even blinking an eye! I know that you’re a good friend from the way you talk about Zuko! It’s clear that you love him a lot. I know that you’re funny, you’ve made me laugh multiple times just this evening!”

Mai was starting to look uncomfortable, so Ty Lee cut her a break and stopped her list there.

“You’re really cool, it’s obvious to anyone who meets you.” She finished and picked her mug back up to take another sip, feeling awkward for having rambled.

Mai cleared her throat before responding. “That’s really sweet of you to say.” She paused. “I didn’t realize you were paying so much attention to me.”

Now it was Ty Lee’s turn to feel embarrassed, she might as well have just said _I have a crush on you!_ She prayed to whatever spirits were listening that Mai wouldn’t read into her words too much.

“Sorry?” she floundered. Right, because apologizing for paying attention to Mai wouldn’t make Ty Lee sound creepy at all.

Mai chuckled. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s kind of flattering. I always assume that the dancers just ignore me completely. You know how you and Azula always say ‘thank you’ at the end of a rehearsal?”

Ty Lee nodded. After thanking the choreographers and directors she and Azula would always make sure to thank Mai, who usually just nodded at them in response. It was the polite and respectful thing to do.

“Yeah, well, you two are the only ones who do that, aside from a couple of the directors.” Mai informed her.

Ty Lee was shocked. “But it’s a common courtesy to thank your accompanist! That’s just rude to not say anything!”

Mai shrugged. “Maybe, I wouldn’t really know. I never worked with dancers until I started with the company.”

“Really? Did you work as an accompanist at all in college?” Ty Lee was curious.

“Yeah,” Mai didn’t seem uncomfortable talking about her experience. “But it was mostly for the Voice majors or the Musical Theatre kids. I played for Zuko’s voice juries one year and all of a sudden all of the other Musical Theatre majors started asking me to play for them. It was easy money so I didn’t care about the workload too much.”

Ty Lee didn’t know much about singing, she had a terrible singing voice herself, as Azula loved to remind her when she was singing in the shower. She had a lot of respect for musicians, it seemed like hard work and she didn’t see many people acknowledge that.

“Did they say ‘thank you’?” Ty Lee inquired.

“Yeah, they were actually really good about that. I think it’s because they knew that I was Zuko’s best friend and that he would be mad at them if they were anything less than perfectly kind to me.” Mai smiled.

“Did he really have that much sway over them?” 

“Yeah, he was pretty powerful, I guess. He was pretty popular in his program because he was so talented.” Mai’s feelings of pride for Zuko were evident in her words. 

Apparently done talking about Zuko, Mai let out a yawn and set her now empty mug down. She stretched her arms over her head, though her movement was somewhat constricted by her coat. Ty Lee took the yawning and stretching for the signal it was, and quickly drained the rest of her drink.

“So,” Mai started. “Inspiring?”

“Not really,” Ty Lee replied, sheepishly. “We might need to try something else to get our creative juices flowing. You can decide what we try next, since I got to pick this one.”

Mai considered this for a moment, before nodding. “That sounds fair. I’ll think about what I want to do and text you the details.”

“Sounds good!” Ty Lee smiled. “I’m sorry you spent so much time on the ground, but I really did have fun tonight.”

“Me too.”

And if there were butterflies in Ty Lee’s tummy at seeing Mai give her a genuine smile, well, she didn’t need to tell anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed!! this chapter is 4.2k to preemptively make up for next week's chapter being kinda short!! 
> 
> my tumblr is @s-sokka if you wanna come yell at me about things :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee checks in with Hama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this chapter is of poorer quality than usual, i didn't have a beta bc i forgot to ask for one oops! uhhhhh so let me know if you see any glaring errors, i guess.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!

The Monday after her ice skating adventure with Mai found Ty Lee in Hama’s office. She wasn’t in trouble or anything, she had just gotten a text from Hama asking Ty Lee to come in so they could discuss some more details about the concert rehearsals.

Right now, Hama was opening the curtains to let the light into the room. The sunlight fell in pools over all of the things littering Hama’s desk at the moment. Most of the clutter was from scattered papers, which wasn’t surprising. Ty Lee knew that Hama was in the process of dealing with the union after Pakku had violated regulations. Hama was, of course, on the union’s side and had apparently been very upset when she found out about Pakku. Ty Lee hadn’t been in the building that day to see her reaction, but she had heard that Hama yelling at Pakku had been quite a sight to behold.

Hama came and took a seat across from Ty Lee. “Ty Lee, love, how are you doing these days? I’m not used to not seeing your smiling face in the halls!”

“I’ve been well!” Ty Lee started. “I’ve missed coming in to work everyday, but I can’t deny that it's been nice getting to catch up on sleep.”

“I’m sure it has been! You’ve been working very hard this season!” Hama turned her attention to one of the stacks of papers on her desk. 

“Have you been able to meet with Mai about working together yet?” She asked as she sifted through the stack, looking for something specific.

“Yes, actually! We met to talk about whether or not she was interested in working with me, which she was, and then we decided to try to look for inspiration for our piece! I suggested that we go ice skating, which we did, but it wasn’t as inspiring as I had hoped it would be. We agreed that we should try to find ideas elsewhere, so Mai’s gonna text me sometime soon with her idea of what we should try next!” Ty Lee explained, somewhat breathlessly.

Hama blinked at Ty Lee as she processed all of Ty Lee’s words. “Oh, well, that’s great then! I’m glad to hear that you’re working together and also apparently getting along so well!” Ty Lee sensed that there was something more behind her words, but she decided to ignore it.

“Do you have any idea yet of when you’ll be needing studio space? I’m starting to put together the rehearsal schedule and if I can block out when you two will be needing the studio that would be great.” Hama had gone back to digging through her piles, moving on to a different one when she hadn’t been able to find what she was looking for in the first one.

“I don’t think we’re going to be needing the studios for a while. It seems like it might take us a while to figure out what exactly we want to do.” Ty Lee felt like she should offer to help Hama with whatever she was searching for, watching her struggle to find it.

“I was hoping you would say that, actually.” Hama said, moving onto another pile.

“Do you need help? You seem to be having some trouble there.” Ty Lee offered, never one to pass up an opportunity to be helpful.

“You know what? That would be great, actually. I’m looking for the packet with the studio reservation schedule, it’s rather large and it should be stapled together, if I’m remembering correctly.” She said, handing Ty Lee one of the stacks from her desk. Hama clearly knew that if Ty Lee stumbled upon documents that she was not supposed to see that she would simply ignore them.

“Which studio or studios are being reserved for rehearsals?” Ty Lee asked as she started to go through the stack on her lap.

“We’ll be reserving the Upper Ring studio most of the time. As we get further into the rehearsal process we’ll also be using the Middle Ring studio.” Hama explained.

Ty Lee continued to flip through papers until she got to one that fit Hama’s description.

“Is this it?” She held it up so that Hama could inspect it.

“Yes! You found it! May I have it, please? You can just put the rest of those papers right over there.” She said, pointing to a corner on the desk. Ty Lee handed her the scheduling packet and lifted the rest of the pile into the spot Hama had indicated. Hama was now flipping through the packet, until she got to the page she was looking for.

“Ok, so each page in this packet is for a specific production or project. It’s much larger than usual since we have the concert this season and therefore have more projects being rehearsed.” Hama held up the page to show it to Ty Lee. It had a large chart that she guessed was probably where their rehearsal schedule would go once they started working in the studio spaces.

“This page will be for you and Mai,” she informed Ty Lee, setting the paper down and grabbing a pen from her desk to write in her distinctive cursive  _ Ty Lee & Mai _ on the line at the top of the page.

“Do you need to know our exact schedule now?” Ty Lee asked. “We haven’t really gotten that far in the process yet.”

“No, I don’t need that yet, don’t worry.” Hama clarified. “I just wanted to tell you how this was going to work. Once you start needing studio space, you will let me know and I will add it to your chart, here.” She indicated to the chart once more. “You will then be assigned studio hours, accordingly. Studio hours and rehearsal times will be posted to the callboard, just like they are for any other production. If the hours you are scheduled don’t work for you or Mai, feel free to let me know and I will do my best to accommodate. Does that all make sense?”

Ty Lee nodded. “Yes! I don’t expect to have any scheduling conflicts, but Mai might since she’s involved in other productions right now.”

“What piece is she rehearsing right now? I can’t quite seem to remember.”

“La Sylphide.” Ty Lee watched the look on Hama’s face change from one of calm composition to annoyance.

“Ah, yes. With Pakku. How could I forget?” She asked, but it wasn’t really a question. “That man is on his last chance now, I will not tolerate his disrespect for my dancers for much longer. And not only the dancers! I understand that Mai was forced to stay after the official end of rehearsal, as well?”

“Yeah, we were supposed to meet at the tea shop down the block to discuss our plans that afternoon and she ended up being late. I was starting to think that she wasn’t going to show up at all.”

Hama winced in sympathy. “I’m sorry, love, that can’t have been a pleasant experience.”

Ty Lee shrugged. “It ended up being okay, she felt really bad about it even though it wasn’t her fault at all.”

“She’s a sweet one, that girl.” Hama shook her head knowingly. “Puts a lot of pressure on herself, I’ve noticed. You make sure that she doesn’t do that with this project, okay?”

“I promise.” Ty Lee said seriously, meaning it wholeheartedly.

“And don’t put too much pressure on yourself, either. You’ve got plenty of time to put this together, so don’t worry about getting it done all at once.” Hama had practically read Ty Lee’s mind.

“How did you know I was thinking that?”

“Because I know you, my dear. I know how you think and I know what your concerns are.” Hama smiled at Ty Lee before changing the topic back to scheduling.

“Now, as soon you both have an idea of what rehearsal spaces you need, I need you to let me know immediately. It’s going to be a lot to figure out and I need all the warning I can get.”

“Of course, I’ll make sure to get that to you.”

Hama smiled. “Well, I think that covers everything I wanted to talk to you about today, do you have any questions for me?”

Ty Lee considered. “Oh! Actually, I do!”

“I will do my best to answer it for you.”

“What is this concert benefiting? Like, who are we raising money and awareness for?”

Hama startled. “Oh, did I forget to tell you that?” Ty Lee nodded. “My apologies! That probably would be nice to know, wouldn’t it? The money we raise with the performance will be split between three different charities, all of which work to provide opportunities in the performing arts for children who would normally not be able to afford such experiences. They are partnered with different schools throughout the region to provide students with the chance to experience the arts. They’re all really lovely organizations.”

“Oh, that does sound lovely! I hope we’re able to raise a lot for them!” Ty Lee couldn’t imagine her life without dance, if she could give another child the chance to experience all of the wonderful things that dance had given her, she absolutely would!

“Me too, that’s why we asked some of our best performers to participate. You all will bring in quite the crowd!” Hama winked at Ty Lee. “Is there anything else you were wondering?”

“No, I think that’s it for now. I’ll text you if I think of anything else later.”

“Alright then,” Hama nodded officially. “You’re all set to head out. Have a lovely afternoon, my dear.”

“You too, Hama!” Ty Lee smiled as she stood up from her seat and made her way out of Hama’s office.

She was glad she had gotten a chance to meet with Hama, it really did feel weird not seeing her everyday. She knew it would change within a couple months when she started to come into the building for rehearsals, but for now it was just strange.

A buzz from Ty Lee’s pocket announced the arrival of a text. She stopped to the side of the hallway she was in so that she wouldn’t obstruct traffic flow, and pulled it out. As she did, she felt several more texts buzz in. Checking the screen, Ty Lee saw that all of them were from Mai, which surprised her. Mai didn’t strike her as the type to send multiple texts at a time. She unlocked her phone and read through messages.

_ ok so idea _

_ for the inspiration hunting thing? _

_ we could go people-watching? _

_ at the park or something _

_ sorry if that’s a stupid idea _

Ty Lee rushed to reply:  _ not a stupid idea at all! i think that could actually be really productive!! would monday after rehearsal work for you, 1:30 again? _

She saw the three little dots pop up almost immediately after she hit send. Mai’s reply came in 5 seconds later.

_ yeah, that would be perfect. i’ll meet you there. _

Ty Lee responded with the thumbs up emoji and hit the power button. She slipped her phone back into her pocket, satisfied with the progress they would hopefully be making and the promise of plans to spend even more time with Mai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so i've been doing this thing where i only post the chapter once the next chapter is written, but chapter nine is only half finished as of right now!! oops!! sorry if the next couple updates feel rushed, I'm very very busy with school right now!!
> 
> anyway, follow me on tumblr if you want. all i do is talk about the zukka arson au i was working on and also the da vinky brothers tiktok. @s-sokka :)

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will happen weekly (hopefully) on Thursdays!!
> 
> feel free to come yell at me on tumblr if that's something you are interested in doing. I'm @s-sokka on there.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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